James B. Steinberg

Former Brookings Expert

James Steinberg joined the Obama administration as deputy secretary of state in January 2009. He was the former director of Foreign Policy studies at Brookings and also a nonresident senior fellow while dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin.

[Trump has] given Iran the moral high ground and that is an exceptionally difficult thing to do given the history and reality of Iran's misdeeds at home and in the region. It's just malpractice on the part of an American president.

The way the Trump administration is moving forward [with its Iran policy] is just so hostile to all aspects of Iran that it’s unlikely to produce any traction with the Iranian people or to encourage divisions within the system.

The intent of [any U.S. action] to do with the IRGC is basically to cast a very broad shadow over sectors of the Iranian economy and exacerbate the compliance nightmare for foreign businesses that may be considering trade and investment with Iran.